Originally posted by rwhynacht But he took their (meaning Ricoh’s) product.
No, this puts ownership into Ricoh's name. Ricoh's camera was bought by a consumer, (Will Robinson, the current owner) therefore Ricoh is not the owner anymore. Unless Ricoh sold the camera on credit in which case ownership remains with Ricoh untill the camera is fully paid in clear funds. (Usual trading terms)
But if the following is stated: Ricoh and Pentax have a problem, their cameras are all faulty. This would be correct.
(Only grammatically though because factually they are not all faulty.
)
My complaint centers around statements I read in newspapers more and more which goes like this:
A man was in an accident and he lost their arm. (or ...had to have their arm amputated) Look out for it, you will see grammar like this a lot.
Here in this case the gender is known therefore it should read ...lost his arm or had his arm amputated. The statement of “a man” is singular. Had it been the case of “several men” in an accident then “their” would be correct if in fact all of them had their arms amputated.
If only one man of several had to have an arm (or two) amputated then the grammar and sentence construction changes again.
I think gramar is not tought in schools anymore these days. In a world of smartphones and Twitter Inc. grammar is not cool. (Mr.Trump, come and see me after class)
Cheers